I heard a really really despicable argument yesterday. This person tried to convince me that gambling was racist. Not like a particular casino was racist. Like it had discriminatory hiring practices or something. No. This person said that the activity of gambling itself is racist. Heres their argument. When you gamble, the more skill required to play the game, the better the odds. So poker, and black jack have the best odds. But slot machines and lottery tickets are almost always a losing proposition. Black people, according to this person, are less likely than white people to learn to play a complex game. They are more likely to play simple games that take very little time to learn. So, black people disproportionately lose at gambling, making winning at gambling a white privilege. This argument is so painfully idiotic it excites me a little to report that this person was college educated. Not to mention its a little racist to assume that black players are less skilled than white players. But I had to share this because as I thought about it it occurred to me that its not so dissimilar from most other arguments Ive heard about white privilege. So-called racism isnt about the erroneous beliefs of the racist anymore. Its rarely about hatred, or bigotry, or open discrimination, or anything inside the heart of the racist. Institutional Racism as its called, is anywhere that a statistical disparity in outcome occurs. Theres no mind paid to why the difference may exist, or where the actual injustice may have occurred, if anywhere. Its the responsibility of those at the end of the chain of causality to make it right, even if they had nothing to do with the outcome. Who knows why more white people prefer poker, and more black people prefer slots (if thats even true)? Apparently gambling is racist.
Posted on: Tue, 01 Apr 2014 19:45:41 +0000
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